Thursday, July 29, 2010

Egg Donation - Dangerous and Unregulated

In the world of trying-to-conceive there are plenty of discussions about how to promote the health of developing babies, even if they're conceived through IVF. But if the eggs for IVF are coming from a donor, the mother-to-be and fetus might not be the people at the greatest risk in this situation. 


A new documentary, Eggsploitation, interviews three women who have nearly died because they decided to be egg donors. Egg "donation" is a booming market. Donors are offered thousands of dollars for their eggs - in 2008 it was a $38 million dollar industry.  But when young women agree to sell their eggs, enticed by altruism or cash incentives, they are uninformed and poorly screened.  Donors are treated like a supply source - mined for resources then forgotten - not like patients who have undergone extreme medical procedures, and not nearly enough research has been done for this business to be as widespread as it is.

Case in point, the drugs that egg donors inject are not FDA approved to be used as ovarian hyper-stimulants.  According to this article about the documentary :
"In clinical studies using Pergonal for ovarian hyperstimulation, 2.4-5.5 percent of women developed complications," noted Dr. de Solenni in her testimony. "Similarly, the FDA's data on Lupron, another drug used for ovarian hyperstimulation, records a death rate of .5 percent."
"Complications", huh?  


Calla Papademas, one of the women interviewed in Eggsploitation, suffered "complications".  She was offered over $50,000 for her eggs and so began the procedure in great health, hoping to make some easy money.  In the end, she had brush with death, was in a coma for several days, had a stroke, suffered brain damage and permanent pituitary failure.  The egg collection facility gave her $750 for an uncompleted donation and denied all responsibility. Because she did not complete the donation cycle she is not considered an "egg donor" and so her health problems are not reported with the risks of egg donation.  

Hear her story from her own mouth:




This is seriously messed up. Its appalling that the government has not stepped in to regulate this multi billion dollar industry. If you're considering getting egg donations, ask yourself if its worth putting a young woman's life at risk before you go through with it... 

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